CRC funded reports

1989-1990

The Council received reports from 6 completed research projects during the year
1989-90. Summaries of these reports are given below. These reports are held by
the Australian Institute of Criminology's JV Barry Library and are available on
inter-library loan. For full bibliographic information on any report, search the
Library's Catalogue.

The Special Care Unit (SCU) is a 20-bed self-contained unit within the NSW
Department of Corrective Services which opened on 1 January 1980. It has a
short-term goal of assisting inmates with behavioural/psychological problems to
adapt to the prison environment and a long-term goal to facilitate their
rehabilitation back into society. The research was designed to evaluate the
short-term goal, and to provide feedback on staff and prisoner perceptions of
the benefits and/or problems of the unit.

A total of 140 inmates were interviewed either at entry to the unit, at exit or
at three month follow-up, as well as 24 inmates in a comparison group. Several
psychological tests were also administered including the Interpersonal Behaviour
Survey, Jessness Behaviour Checklist, Lovibond's Self Analysis Questionnaire and
Spielberger's Tait Anxiety Scale. Interview results revealed that inmates had
learnt to overcome initial apprehension about therapy groups with prison
officers and were able to discuss themselves and their problems openly with most
staff (including prison officers). They reported heightened self awareness and
an improved ability to relate to other inmates and prison officers after leaving
the unit. The results of psychometric tests showed statistically significant
differences between groups but these did not have any clear interpretation.

Data were also analysed for a total of 45 questionnaires and 28 interviews from
staff who had worked in the unit between April 1984 and June 1986. Staff
reported enhancing their skills in working with inmates and particularly in
dealing with angry or distressed prisoners.

More generally, other benefits and/or problems were reported by both staff and
prisoners. The reported benefits appeared to derive from the unique environment
created in the SCU when compared to the main gaol system. For instance, the high
degree of mixed staffing was rated as having a 'positive effect on inmates' by
70 per cent of the staff, and none said that this had a negative effect. Some
staff also reported that they felt that working in the SCU improved their
prospects for promotion and improved their interpersonal and communication
skills. Some staff also said it improved their communication with their
families. Inmates said that the unit offered them better conditions than the
main gaol system (for example, more visits and phone calls, opportunity to wear
their own clothes) and claimed that they enjoyed greater freedom in the unit.

Some of the problems mentioned by staff were difficulties adjusting to the unit,
the location of the unit inside the walls of a larger prison, the selection of
staff and inmates not being stringent enough, and lack of training resources for
staff. Staff also mentioned that they felt inmates should be provided with more
support after leaving the unit. Some of the inmates said that they found it
difficult to make the transition from the unit back to main gaol and would have
liked more support. A few inmates mentioned that they felt the SCU program
itself was very hard for them, because they found group counselling too
confronting or they felt uncomfortable talking openly in a group. Many of the
inmates who had these difficulties did not complete their stay in the unit. More
generally, a high non-completion rate was a continuing problem for the unit with
a non-completion rate of 48 per cent for the period of this evaluation. Many
inmates were expelled from the unit for non-work or drug use.

In short, the research provides some support for the conclusion that the SCU
achieved its short-term goals; to enhance the ability of troubled prisoners to
cope with the gaol environment through improved staff-to-prisoner and
prisoner-to-prisoner relations.

The report makes recommendations based on the research findings to:

improve on the number of inmates who complete the program;

help inmates with stress imposed by the program;

support inmates and staff leaving the unit;

enhance the network of available programs;

implement a procedure to provide feedback on post-exit functioning of inmates;

The increasing use by Australian law enforcement agencies of audio and video
tape recordings as evidence has resulted in a concomitant increase in workload
for those responsible for ensuring that these recordings are managed in a manner
which meets all the associated evidentiary requirements.

The initial chapters of the document arise from a detailed examination of the
application of magnetic recording technology in all Australian states and
territories, as well as overseas.

Through the author documenting his 30 years of practical experience as a
highly-skilled practitioner in his field, he has been able to provide a
practical guide for those who have chosen to work in the specialist field of law
enforcement audio and video recordings.

Subject material dealt with in the report includes:

evidentiary magnetic recording practices overseas;

evidentiary electronic recording in Australia;

expectations of evidentiary recordings;

producing technically-acceptable recordings;

authentication of magnetic recordings; and

preparation of recorded evidence and transcripts for court presentation.

Throughout the Australian law enforcement and judicial system, there is an
increasing awareness that technological developments can provide increased
productivity and accuracy, if applied correctly.

This report provides an evaluation of audio and video technology and associated
procedures which can now contribute significantly to specific areas in the
Australian criminal justice system

Victims of Crime: An Overview of Research and Policy reviews existing literature
and research. It also summarises policy initiatives in South Australia aimed at
improving the position of people who become victims of crime. The report begins
from an historical perspective, assessing the past role of victims in society;
the recent development of the victims movement; and problems with the definition
of a victim. Statistical information on crime victims, the impact of the
offence, fear of crime and the current role and status of victims also are
covered. This report concludes with a summary of legislative changes, and of
departmental responses to South Australian Government's 'Bill of Rights' for
victims 1985.

Criminal Injuries Compensation in South Australia focuses on the current
operations of the scheme and assesses claimants' experiences with and attitudes
toward the compensation process. The study examined 547 files from the
Attorney-General's Department and interviewed 110 claimants. The sample was
taken from claims lodged in three six-month periods: January to June 1984, 1985
and 1986.

Key issues addressed by the study included:

factors influencing the granting and size of payments made under the fund;

time taken to process the claim;

compensation as part of a court based system; and

claimants' experiences and overall assessment of the procedure.

The study concludes that victims had two major criticisms of the current scheme:

maximum levels of payment and actual amounts received were too low; and

too much time elapsed before applications were finalised.

These results do not indicate a need to radically restructure criminal injuries
compensation procedures in South Australia. The following recommendations for
further improvements however, are made:

The report of this research project is entitled and published by the Bureau of
Crime Statistics and Research. This study examined and assessed the
characteristics and outcomes of appeals lodged by defendants against convictions
recorded and sentences imposed in NSW Local Courts during 1987. (As of November
1988, the legal situation changed allowing the prosecution to lodge an appeal
against the sentence to the District Court.)

There are two types of appeal: an appeal may be lodged against the severity of
the sentence alone, or an appeal may be lodged against both the conviction and
the severity of the sentence. The second type of appeal, the 'all grounds'
appeal, proceeds by way of hearing 'de novo' (i.e. the complete rehearing of the
case), and in these cases the judge hearing the appeal is permitted to read the
depositions taken in the Local Court hearing only with the consent of the
appellant. This situation, and the difficulties it creates, has been the source
of recurring legal concern.

From the analysis of information obtained from the computerised case tracking
system maintained with the Attorney-General's Department and the Criminal
Registry's file papers relating to 5,137 appeals finalised in 1987, the study
reports a 17 per cent increase in the number of Local Court cases between 1986
and 1987, and a 32 per cent increase in the number of appeals (uniformly spread
across types of appeal). Overall, there was approximately one appeal against
conviction and/or sentence for every 30 cases dealt with in the Local Courts.
Appeals were more likely to be lodged by those defendants receiving a prison
sentence, with appeals against severity of sentence representing almost
two-thirds of all appeals. All grounds appeals constituted only slightly more
than one-third of all appeals.

More detailed examination of a sample of 685 cases revealed that while 25 per
cent of appeals lodged were eventually abandoned or withdrawn, there was a
success rate of 75 per cent for determined appeals. Of those appeals which were
determined, the conviction was quashed in 40 per cent of all grounds appeals,
and in 73 per cent of appeals against severity the penalty was decreased.
Defendants were legally represented in 85 per cent of determined appeals but
this did not bear upon the success of appeals heard. However, in only half the
cases of withdrawn appeals did the defendant have legal representation.

Drink drive offences and serious driving offences figured in over 50 per cent of
all appeals, an over-representation in relation to Local Court cases.

A notable difference exists in the time taken to finalise all grounds appeals
and appeals against severity. Half the appeals against severity were finalised
within three months of the Local Court hearing, whereas it took nine months for
half of the all grounds appeals to be finalised. In fact, most cases which were
prolonged involved the non-appearance of the appellant at some stage during the
proceedings. Finally, legal representation did not appear to affect the length
of proceedings in appeals against severity of sentence or all grounds appeals.

The final report of this research, entitled and published by the Crime Research
Centre. A total of 123 convicted violent offenders currently serving sentences
in Western Australian prisons answered questionnaires relating to their decision
whether or not to use weapons in carrying out their offences and why one weapon
was chosen in preference to another. The responses were, where necessary,
supplemented by interview. Participation was voluntary. Respondents had all
committed the focal offence within the previous three years.

Gun-users were a sub-sample of particular interest, the researchers having
hypothesised that their decision-making processes would be distinctive. The bulk
of this sub-sample (15/18) were robbers. In this context, the most cogent
research findings related to gun-robbers. They were as follows:

First, those armed robbers whose preferred weapons in the particular crime-event
were guns predominantly chose them because of the operational advantages
(crime-scene and victim management) which they believed guns conferred. Next,
gun-robbers tend to pay a great deal of prior attention to the risks of getting
caught, and believe that use of guns in the crime-event will reduce these risks.
However, they also believe that if they are caught the sentence they will
receive will be greater, reflecting the fact that they did in fact use a gun
rather than some less dangerous weapon. Despite this expectation, they
nevertheless decide to use a gun and claim that they would still do so in future
robberies. This is so even though they believe in retrospect that they actually
did receive a greater sentence on account of their gun-use in the focal offence.

These findings identify a 'deterrence hiatus'. According to standard deterrence
theory, these most calculating of violent offenders should be the most
deterrable -- but seem to be the least. The contrast with knife-robbers, for
example, who positively decide not to use guns because of the sentencing
implications is marked. How does this hiatus arise?

It is suggested that two factors are highly significant: ambivalence in the law
itself and in judicial pronouncements as to whether, and to what extent, gun-use
really does lead to a greater sentence; and high levels of drug use by
gun-robbers. As to the first, the research argues strongly for the creation of a
mandatory minimum additional sentence for the gun-use component of armed
robbery, such penalty not to be reducible by parole. Canadian and United States
research data support this argument. The suggested period is one year's
imprisonment for the first such offence.

The research also addresses the question of socialisation to the use of
firearms. The data strongly suggest that the source and circumstances of early
exposure to guns may be tangible factors in the decision of a violent offender
to use a gun rather than some other weapon in subsequent offending. In
particular, it is notable that persons who were first exposed to and educated in
gun-use by authority figures were significantly less likely to use guns as
weapons than those influenced by peer-group members. Moreover, persons who were
brought up in gun-owning households where the primary motive for ownership was
protection were also significantly more likely to regard gun-use in crime as
appropriate and acceptable conduct. The socialisation of such persons tends to
be continuously reinforced by their moving in a sub-culture where gun-use is
relatively normal, both in crime and generally.

However, there was one quite outstanding exception to the general findings as to
socialisation. This related to tribal and semi-tribal Aborigines. Despite their
equal exposure to gun-use in non-criminal contexts, this group was significantly
different in its pattern of gun-use in crime. Culturally, guns were seen as
hunting and work tools; as one prisoner graphically said, 'Guns are for shooting
tucker, not people'. In other words, strong acculturation against criminal use
of firearms will hold firm even in the face of their widespread availability.
The gun control debate does not merely revolve around availability, therefore,
but also around attitudes to self and to society. This finding seems to have
implications for the licensing of gun owners generally, implications which
deserve to be explored further.

The research project and findings are best seen as a contribution to the growing
body of Australian research in this area and also as one which could gain
strength and cogency from replication either in relation to some future Western
Australian sample or another Australian sample at a different time and place.

The objective of the research was to examine the violent experiences of young
people after they had left home and had been living without anywhere permanent
to stay. The report is based on data from intensive interviews conducted in
Victoria with 51 young people under the age of 18 years. The research team
included 10 young people who had experienced homelessness.

The research report noted that, contrary to some popular images, homelessness is
not a carefree freedom enjoyed by rebellious teenagers. It is filled with
anxieties about survival. Nearly all homeless youth spoke of feeling scared for
their personal safety and spoke of a vulnerability to violence as a major source
of fear.

For young men, the major sources of violence were physical fights with other
young men (often strangers) which occurred in public spaces. For young women,
the major source was young men who were often described as 'friends'. The
vulnerability of young women to sexual assault and harassment was recognised by
both sexes. The research report stated the second major source of violence for
both sexes was police officers. These assaults most often involved more than one
officer and most often occurred in police stations following an initial
confrontation in public spaces.

The report commented upon the extent to which young people suffer their violent
victimisation without seeking help or reporting incidents.

The report made recommendations in relation to a number of policy issues and
areas:

It is recommended that the government has to address the economic, educational and welfare policies which deny youth the possibility of living safe, independent lives; young people living away from home should be assisted with access to employment, education and housing opportunities and welfare benefits.

A longer-term need is to address constructions of masculinity and their relationships to violence.

In the immediate future a number of other specific policy recommendations present themselves. These fall into the following major areas:

housing options for young women (who are particularly vulnerable);

the daily dilemma - (how and where young people out of work or school spend their day; the need for a place for them to go where they are safe and free from harassment; the need for programs which allow homeless youth to spend their time constructively);

policing problems (the need for police training in the handling of young people; accountability and redress in case of allegations of police maltreatment); and

health/service access and response (particularly in relation to victims of violence).